KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 -- The gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed unchanged today on muted demand as investors stayed on the sidelines to await further market direction. 

Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd dealer Leo Goh Boon Hao said the two major market-moving catalysts will now be the Brexit deal which is supposed to be on Saturday (Oct 19), together with the prolonged US-China trade tension. 

"As of now, investors remain cautious on the geopolitical outlook as well as the future of global trade. Currently, there is still no clear direction on which way it would flow through," he said. 

He also said that the bullion is likely to trade in consolidation mode with a downside bias in the coming days. 

At the close, spot month October 2019 was unchanged at RM201.00 per gramme, while November 2019, December 2019 and January 2020 remained pegged at RM200.50 per gramme, RM200.60 per gramme, and RM200.70, respectively. 

Volume was nil compared with three lots worth RM60,390 yesterday, while open interest increased to 156 contracts from 155 contracts previously. 

At 5 pm, the price of physical gold was down RM1.32 to RM193.49 per gramme.

-- BERNAMA